THE WHAT? The Shiseido Beauty Innovations Fund has announced that it will act as lead investor in Jiangsu Trautec Medical Technology Co. The J-beauty giant has pledged close to RMB100 million and will form a strategic partnership with Trautec, working together to explore new areas in functional skin care.

THE DETAILS Trautec is dedicated to the development and production of recombinant collagen*2-basd biomaterials for the medical and cosmetics industries.

THE WHY? Part of Shiseido’s wider strategy for growth is to strengthen its China business. As the J-beauty giant said in a statement, “The market of functional skincare, which offers specific functions to skin, is growing significantly as more and more Chinese consumers are looking for effective solutions to their skin problems. The needs for recombinant collagen are expanding because of its stability and effectiveness as well as wide application to medical, healthcare and cosmetics fields.”